Google’s newest app stops you burning through your data package

Datally, which is available for Android devices worldwide from today, applies granular control to enable a user to monitor use of data on their phone and cut data usage on any app as they please. The app design is simple and it appears to be effective. A pilot test in the Philippines gained 500,000 users who typically saved 30 percent of their data plan using the app.

That makes particular sense in emerging markets like India, where the app is primarily focused, and Southeast Asia, where it was trialled, since most smartphone owners have prepaid SIM cards which take them offline when the credit is spent.

Beyond helping cut out data-heavy apps when a user wants to focus on a different service or app, Datally also provides an update on how much data each app is consuming — Google calls this a ‘speedometer for data’ — and it alerts users when they are near to a public WiFi point.

“There is, in my view, a Silicon Valley blind spot. That is why with things like Next Billion Users initiative at Google, we are building technology which we know is meant for these markets. When we solve it, it brings those technologies to the world,” Peeyush Ranjan, VP of engineering for Google’s Next Billion Users initiative, told FactorDaily in an interview.